[Ham-Computers] RE: Flash drives, DOS, etc

[Jay Austin]

Sorry it took so long to respond, I went out of town for the weekend. I was
not ignoring you. 

I am not ignoring the hardware issues at all. Under VPC, you have to install
the drivers for any devices that you want to use. If you have a device that
runs under windows 98 only, then if you  install the windows 98 driver that
device should work. I said should because there is nothing that is 100% when
it comes with computers. I would dl VPC and install it on an XP box. Then I
would install the OS you want and see if it works. A virtual machine is the
same as if you had 2 different computers running at the same time. They only
share processor and memory. If you have the drivers for a specific device
for DOS or 98 then that device should work under that VM.

I will give you an example of how I use VMs. If I need to test the
compatibility of a patch for one of my business clients with some of their
software, I have a VM that I can run on one of the boxes in my shop to test
it so that I do not need to go out to their site for every small detail. It
is just like I am running one of their machines. I still have some clients
running 98 due to third party hardware compatibility issues. 


73,
 
Jay Austin KE4RHN
 
Austin Computer Solutions
http:\\www.austin-computer-solutions.com
Hire a Tech, Not a Geek
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Duane Fischer, W8DBF [mailto:dfischer at usol.com] 
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 4:28 PM
To: ke4rhn at arrl.net; Computers (or other) used for amateur radio,
communications,or experimenting
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] RE: Flash drives, DOS, etc

You neglected to say if it would address the system hardware and port driven

external hardware items. For example the speech synthesizer operating off 
serial port COM#1 or my HP 3P B/W flatbed scanner using a $1000 special OCR 
software scanning/conversion to text package.

I thought the Windows DOS from Win 98 SE retro would work with the Flash 
memory off a USB port, but I did not think the DOS could interface with the 
XP construct due to incorrect drivers and hardware incompatability? So do 
they work or not?

Thank you.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay Austin" <jayaustin at charter.net>
To: "'Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications, or 
experimenting'" <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 11:08 PM
Subject: RE: [Ham-Computers] RE: Flash drives, DOS, etc


> Duane,
>
> The thing with VPC (and VMWare for thaty matter) is that when you are
> running A VM, it is actually completely independent of the host OS. For
> example, when you boot a VM it goes through the POST and BIOS test and 
> boots
> like any other computer. It does not even see the host OS. What it is
> basically doing is taking the amount of memory and setting it aside for 
> that
> VM and running it as if it was an independent computer. You do need more
> memory to do this. I would not recommend running any virtual software on 
> any
> computer with less than 1 GB of RAM for this reason. You can even network
> the VM differently from the host OS. It will even get a different IP and 
> the
> network will see it as a completely different machine if you want it to.
>
> All this to say, if you install DOS as a VM under VPC, then it will act 
> just
> like a computer with DOS only running on it. It will not even see the XP
> that it is running on top of unless you set it up as part of the network 
> and
> even then it will see it as a different computer. Any DOS programs you 
> have
> will run under that VM.
>
> Forget about booting with the flash drive and just install VPC. Then 
> install
> DOS as a VM.
>
> 73,
>
> Jay Austin KE4RHN
>
> Austin Computer Solutions
> http:\\www.austin-computer-solutions.com
> Hire a Tech, Not a Geek
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Duane Fischer, W8DBF [mailto:dfischer at usol.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 10:04 PM
> To: Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications,or
> experimenting
> Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] RE: Flash drives, DOS, etc
>
> Aaron,
>
> I was told by a very good computer tech that Windows DOS, as we are used 
> to,
>
> would not work on a XP machine due to the system changes after Win 98 SE.
> The drivers were not supported and the hardware was not useable.  That is,
> no CD or other devices.
>
> I have flash memory and the DOS etc. While it 'may' allow some DOS 
> programs
> to run, many will not because they can not use the CD, printer, modem etc.
>
> So make it clear, please: What are the limitations using any kind of DOS 
> in
> any type of way on a XP machine?
>
> Thank you.
>
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